Lisa Ellis

Lisa Ellis

Democratic Party

Candidate, South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Next election

June 9, 2026

Education

Bachelor's

College of Charleston, 1997

Graduate

Clemson University, 2001

Graduate

Columbia College, 2018

Personal

Birthplace

Columbia, SC

Profession

Director of student activities at Blythewood High School

Contact

Personal LinkedIn

Lisa Ellis (Democratic Party) is running for election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education. She declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on June 9, 2026.^[source]

Biography

Lisa Ellis was born in Columbia, South Carolina. She earned a bachelor's degree from the College of Charleston in 1997, a graduate degree from Clemson University in 2001, and a graduate degree from Columbia College in 2018. Her career experience includes working as a director of student activities at Blythewood high school, English teacher, leadership teacher, and instructional coach. Ellis has been affiliated with SC for Ed and Junior League of Columbia.

Elections

2026

See also: South Carolina Superintendent of Education election, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on June 9, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

General election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Incumbent Ellen Weaver (R) is running in the general election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Ellen Weaver (R)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Democratic primary

Democratic primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Lisa Ellis (D) and Sylvia Wright (D) are running in the Democratic primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 9, 2026.

		Candidate
		Lisa Ellis
		Sylvia Wright

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for June 9, 2026, was canceled. Incumbent Ellen Weaver (R) advanced from the Republican primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education without appearing on the ballot.

Endorsements

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2022

See also: South Carolina Superintendent of Education election, 2022

General election

General election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Ellen Weaver defeated Lisa Ellis and Patricia Mickel in the general election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ellen Weaver (R)	55.5	937,493
		Lisa Ellis (D / Alliance Party)	42.8	722,013
	Submit photo	Patricia Mickel (G)	1.6	27,468
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,744

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,688,718
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Ellen Weaver defeated Kathy Maness in the Republican primary runoff for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ellen Weaver	63.9	111,643
	Submit photo	Kathy Maness	36.1	63,080

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 174,723
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Lisa Ellis defeated Gary Burgess and Jerry Govan Jr. in the Democratic primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 14, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lisa Ellis	50.1	87,529
		Gary Burgess	31.2	54,464
		Jerry Govan Jr.	18.7	32,665

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 174,658
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 14, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Kathy Maness	30.6	103,608
✔		Ellen Weaver	23.3	79,077
	Submit photo	Travis Bedson	13.9	47,241
	Submit photo	Bryan Chapman	12.5	42,498
		Kizzi Gibson	11.1	37,743
		Lynda Leventis-Wells	8.5	28,755

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 338,922
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Cindy Bohn Coats (R)
• Sheri Few (R)

Alliance Party convention

Alliance Party convention for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Lisa Ellis advanced from the Alliance Party convention for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on April 23, 2022.

		Candidate
✔		Lisa Ellis (Alliance Party)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Green convention

Green convention for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Patricia Mickel advanced from the Green convention for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on May 7, 2022.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Patricia Mickel (G)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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2022

Lisa Ellis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ellis' responses.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a 21 year veteran school teacher who has worked in 3 SC school districts and 4 SC public schools. In 2018, I created a closed Facebook group called SC for Ed for teachers to connect with each other. This turned into a grassroots advocacy movement with the goal of placing a high quality teacher in every SC classroom. I have a B.A from College of Charleston, a M.S. from Clemson University, and a M.A. from Columbia College.

I believe every student deserves a high quality education in South Carolina. The first step to a high quality education is addressing the teacher shortage. This can be done by increasing teacher pay and improving working conditions for teachers and school support staff. Working conditions can be improved through improving teacher contracts, addressing the metrics of the school report card, and addressing class sizes. School funding has to be reviewed as well.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Every child deserves a high quality education.
• Teachers and school support staff need higher salaries and better working conditions.
• School funding has to be addressed.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Public education

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

This office serves the public education system of South Carolina. It is responsible for the education that our students receive, and education is a vital component of a strong democracy. It is vital this office promote and maintain a strong public education system so that the future of South Carolina is strong and competitive.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

A strong moral character, honesty, transparency, and a willingness to put others above self.

What legacy would you like to leave?

One of my grandmother's mottos was "Brighten the corner where you are." I have always loved that saying, and that is what I attempt to do in my life. My personal life motto is from George Eliot: "What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?" I want to leave the world a better place, and I believe I do this as a teacher every day. I truly won't ever know my full impact, but I hope that those who meet me are better for it.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was babysitting. My first job with a company was Baskin Robbins. I worked there until I graduated from high school. It gave me a wonderful glimpse into working with the public and also working in food service.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Too many to list...

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Wonder Woman

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Bon Jovi's 'We Don't Run.'

What responsibilities of this office do you personally consider the most important?

The person who holds this office has to be passionate, transparent, and accountable to educational stakeholders, most importantly, our students.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

This office must have teaching and school experience in order to understand the responsibilities placed on the schools. I now say, "if you haven't worked in a school since COVID, you don't know what it's like to teach." That experience is crucial to understanding the demands of the system. It would be helpful to have leadership experience.

Tell us your favorite joke.

What did the tomato say to the cabbage?

You go on ahead (a head), and I'll catch up (ketchup).

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Lisa Ellis campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2022	South Carolina Superintendent of Education	Lost general	$278,790	$278,021
Grand total			$278,790	$278,021
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

See also

2026 Elections

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